Entangled gray whale spotted off Piedras Blancas coastline

In this photo provided by Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari, a gray whale is caught in a metal frame off the coast at Dana Point on Saturday, April 1. It was more recently spotted off the coast of Piedras Blancas.
Associated Press

An entangled gray whale with a metal frame stuck on its head was spotted near Piedras Blancas this week.

The whale was seen about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday traveling with two other gray whales and heading north for its migration toward Alaska, said Peggy Stap, founder of the Monterey Bay Marine Life Studies and co-founder of its whale entanglement team.

The whale was swimming about about 3.2 mph, Stap said.

Because marine rescuers don’t know what the metal frame is, they haven’t figured out how to safely disentangle the whale, she said.

Unlimited Digital Access: Only $0.99 For Your First Month

“Until we fully assess, we can’t really decide what we’re going to do,” she said. “We don’t just go in there and start hacking and cutting things. You could remove something that might come off the whale, but it’s not what’s causing trauma to the animal.”

Volunteers at Point Lobos are searching for the whale, which was estimated to arrive there by 7 p.m. Thursday, but high winds could make it more difficult to spot the animal, she said.

Elephant seal pups grow up at their rookery south of the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse in San Luis Obispo County in February and early March. By mid-March most of the mothers will have departed after four weeks of nursing and fasting, leaving the lit

By

Spectacular views and rich in history: Here's a tour of the Piedras Blancas Light Station north of Cambria. The California Coastal National Monument was recently expanded to include the lighthouse.